"Loyalty of a fellow worker is the biggest
thing in the game" -- W. S. Harley

Introduction

The year was 1943 and World War Two was raging. The United States
-- and Harley-Davidson -- were deeply involved in the war effort. William S. Harley,
chief engineer and co-founder of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. in Milwaukee, had
not missed a day at the office. He was working on several military projects and was
being assisted by his older son William J. Harley. His younger son, John E. Harley,
had joined the armed forces and was training soldiers to ride motorcycles at military
bases around the country.

After working on the morning of the 18th of September,
a Saturday, Mr. Harley remarked to then company president William H. Davidson, "It's
such a lovely day I think I'll go out and shoot a round this afternoon. I haven't
played for a long time." At the Milwaukee Athletic Club where he was a longtime
member, Mr. Harley played a game of golf and then had a light dinner there. Afterwards,
in the lobby he purchased cigars and was about to go home when he suddenly felt ill
and collapsed. Rushed to County Emergency Hospital he was pronounced dead of heart
failure there at age 62 years and nine months of age. Three days later William S.
Harley was buried in Milwaukee's Holy Cross cemetery, thereby ending an unbroken
chain of motorcycle invention and adventure going back to the year 1901 and even
earlier.

In this more than century of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle that
is known and celebrated today as a world-wide icon of classic American design and
freedom, it seems proper to review the life and work of this one man without whom
there would have been no Harley-Davidson motorcycle or legend and whose family name
has become synonymous with Milwaukee Iron: "Bill" Harley.

Harley Family Origins

The Harley family originated in the fenland and farming country
near the English village of Littleport, about 75 miles north of London. The name
Harley stems from the Middle English, hara ley, and means "clearing in
the woods."

William S. Harley's father, also named William, was born in 1835.
In 1857 he married Susan Scotting. In 1860 they immigrated to the United States and
in 1864 William enlisted in the New York Heavy Artillery. This military tradition
has carried down in the Harley family for five generations to the present day.

In 1868, a daughter, Katherine, was born to the Harleys. At that
time Susan Scotting Harley may have died in childbirth. Shortly thereafter, William
Harley married Mary Smith, and in 1870, a son, Joseph Harley was born to them. The
family then moved from New York state to Milwaukee, Wisconsin located on the western
shore of Lake Michigan. There William Harley found employment as a railway engineer.
Five more children, two boys and three girls, were born between 1872 and 1882. Only
one of them survived childhood: William Sylvester Harley, who was born on 29 December
1880.

Until around 1896, the Harley family lived at 222 Ninth St. Nearby
at 232 Ninth St. lived another family by the name of Davidson. Arthur, their youngest
son, became William S. Harley's boyhood pal. This friendship would last a lifetime
and would help spark the building and impetus of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Pennington's Motor Cycle

In 1895, these two boys may have seen their first motorized bicycle.
For that summer, Edward Joel Pennington, the American inventor and promoter, had his fabulous new
device he had trade-named "The Motor Cycle" on display and perhaps running
up and down Wisconsin (Grand) Avenue just a few blocks from where young Harley and
Davidson lived. It seems likely that these boys heard of and probably attended Pennington's
exhibition and the sight, sound, and smell of a bicycle that ran on "vapor power"
may have instilled the "dream" these boys (then grown men) recalled years
later of building a motorized two-wheeler of their own long before they had the actual
means to do so.

In 1896 the Harley family moved to Milwaukee's north side on Burleigh
Avenue. There William (now age 15) found employment at the Meiselbach bicycle factory.
He was employed as a "cycle fitter" there and learned important manufacturing
and construction details about this high-tech device of the 1890s. With its precision
bearings, ultra lightweight but strong tubular frame, and magically balanced wire-spoke
wheels running on pneumatic tires the bicycle used the most advanced materials and
fabrication techniques of the day. Out of the 1890s bicycle craze the modern motorcycle
would emerge.

These early events would help set the pattern for the rest of Bill
Harley's life. In 1901 a third factor entered the picture: the internal combustion
engine.

Power Bicycle

In the summer of 1901 then 21 year old William Harley drew up plans
for a small gasoline engine meant to propel an ordinary pedal bicycle. This dated
and signed drawing was titled "Bicycle Motor" and drawing #2 from the original
series survives today. By 1901 young Harley had become an apprentice draftsman at
the Barth Mfg. Co. in Milwaukee and his Bicycle Motor was apparently outside work. Legend holds
that help with this first motor came from a fellow worker at Barth, a German-born
draughtsman who had learned something of the lightweight de Dion-Bouton engine in
Europe. It should be noted that all early successful motorcycles engines were based
on this French motor design. Parts for Harley's first engine were made by Bill and
Arty at the home of Henry Melk, the so-called "northside friend," who lived
down the street from the Harley family on a lathe probably owned by Henry's father
Johann Melk. For those who might visit Milwaukee, the Melk home still stands today.

Progress on the original Bicycle Motor project was slow. Almost two years later in
April of 1903 it was still not completed when Arthur's older brother Walter came
home from his job in Kansas to attend the wedding of their oldest brother, William
A. Davidson. But Walter was intrigued enough to stay in Milwaukee to help finish
it. At least we assume it was finished because there is no good evidence either way
and in any case it would have been too small and underpowered to be successful even
on Milwaukee's very modest hills and the boys would shortly abandon it. One additional
reason being that by 1903 advanced second-generation motorcycles were appearing on
Milwaukee streets; modern designs like the advanced second-generation Merkel motorcycle
that made Harley and Davidson's motorized bicycle project obsolete.

By this time (1903) Harley had finished his apprenticeship at the Barth Mfg. Co.
and was now working as a draftsman at Pawling & Harnischfeger. During this same
pivotal year the creative vision of young William S. Harley came to the fore. He
now realized that propelling a bicycle with a tiny engine was an out-of-date notion
and that a true motorcycle was a unique device with its own demands and characteristics.
Young Bill Harley seems to have grasped that revolutionary notion as well or better
than anyone else of the time. As a result he set to work evaluating the motorcycles
available on the American market and then combined what he considered to be their
best features while introducing ideas of his own. This resulted in a new and competent
design that in a few years would become the early industry standard.

Loop Frame Prototype

While many other builders had patterned their machines after market
leader Indian, Bill Harley rejected Indian's dated bicycle-like design and adopted instead the
more modern and advanced loop-frame chassis pioneered on the 1903 Milwaukee-built
Merkel motorcycle. Although loop-frame motorcycles in the USA went back to 1901 with
the short-lived Oxford and Pattee designs, Joe Merkel (later of Flying Merkel fame),
gave it new popularity. Shrewdly, however, while Harley closely followed the Merkel
chassis, he adopted a larger displacement engine than the one found in the Merkel
and larger than most others used at the time. At about 440cc the new Harley-Davidson
motor was about one-third larger in size and power than the 255cc Merkel and the
260cc Indian, although it was considerably smaller than the 630cc monster "Mile-a-Minute"
Mitchell built in nearby Racine.

In his quest for a reliable, almost industrial-grade engine, Harley
may have been assisted by another gasoline-sniffing pioneer of old Milwaukee. This
was Ole Oleson Evinrude, later of outboard boat motor fame. In 1903 this Norwegian-born
mechanical wizard was building engines of his own design on Milwaukee's Lake Street.
Long a friend of Arthur Davidson, big hearted Ole may have encouraged Bill Harley
to draft plans for an air-cooled cycle motor from the larger, water-cooled Evinrude
design. A case of one great man helping another get his start.

With the parameters of this big-bore, loop-frame design established,
young Harley then developed a simple yet effective belt-tightening device of his
own invention that allowed a quick disconnect of power to the rear wheel. This was
a decided improvement over the dangerous and difficult to operate direct-drive motorcycles
that were common back then. Together these elements made the early Harley-Davidson
motorcycle an excellent machine that might even be described as a "super bike"
of the day.

First Appearance in Historical Record

The prototype of this new 2nd model loop-frame design was finished
and running by 8 September of 1904. We know this historic moment in time from a Milwaukee
race newspaper clipping that contains the first known appearance of a "Harley-Davidson"
in the historical record. In this race the "Harley" (as the brand soon
became known) went up against a Mitchell ridden by Frank X. Zirbes of Racine. While
beaten in that race the Harley-Davidson motorcycle had come to stay. Ten years later
Bill Harley recalled the launching of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle in another way
when he said, "You should have seen the spark plug -- as big as a door knob.
And they cost us $3 each...I have had a good many laughs since whenever I think of
those door knob spark plugs."

College Years

Production of Harley-Davidson motorcycles began in the spring of
1905. By that time, however, young Bill Harley was in college, having packed his shirt two years
earlier and enrolling at the University of Wisconsin, Madison for a degree in mechanical
engineering. He realized that a real education was needed in order to succeed in
this brave new world of vapor power and explosive engines. Working his way through
school he was employed in a Madison architect's office and he also waited tables
at the Kappa Sigma frat house alongside future Milwaukee mayor Daniel Hoan, who was
the cook there. When a steak fell on the floor -- as Mr. Harley recalled years later
-- Dan put it back into the pan and Bill would serve it.

A good student, Harley's surviving college work shows careful attention
to detail and a good head for mathematics. His mechanical abilities were noted by
Prof. Jastrow, who asked Bill Harley to construct testing apparatus for the psychology
department. In his senior year Harley took part in an eleven day field trip and steam
turbine test in Chicago.

At the time Bill Harley attended college the gasoline engine was
so new that there was just one part-time course on the subject. This was taught by
Prof. Thorkelson, who also headed the steam engineering department. During his college
years, Harley stayed in close touch with his partners back in Milwaukee and designed
his first V-twin engine, as a prototype was finished by late 1906 and shown at a
motorcycle show in Chicago in February of 1907.

But college wasn't all work and no play. When Arthur Davidson came
out to visit they would go to Hausman's brewery and fill Artís suitcase with beer.
At the local hangout, "The Hub" they called him "Sylvi" Harley.
To his pals back in Milwaukee he was sometimes known as "Buck" Harley.

Becomes Chief Engineer

In June of 1907, Bill Harley graduated from the university with
a degree in mechanical engineering. There not yet being enough work at Harley-Davidson
to occupy his talents full time, he took an engineering job at the Wisconsin Bridge
and Iron Works in Milwaukee. He also retained the role of consulting engineer for the little
motorcycle factory on Chestnut Street (now West Juneau Ave.), and evenings, weekends,
and holidays found him hard at work there. When the formal incorporation of the Harley-Davidson
Motor Co. took place in September of 1907, William S. Harley was given the dual positions
of engineer and treasurer. Years later, when asked why he was made treasurer he replied
simply, "I really don't know."

In June of 1908 Harley resigned from his job at the Bridge and
Iron Works and devoted all of his time and energy to Harley-Davidson. In the process
his paycheck dropped from $110 a month to $18 a week. But he forged ahead and for
the 1909 model year he redesigned the Harley-Davidson motorcycle from the ground
up. For 1911 he developed an improved V-twin model that was so good it stayed in
production for some eighteen years with only moderate changes and updates. By 1910
the fame of the Milwaukee brand was spreading far and wide and Mr. Harley had begun
patenting his motorcycle improvements and inventions. His first patent was for a
"Motor Cycle Stand" that was granted on January 11, 1910. After that date
hardly a year or two would pass without another Bill Harley patent being applied
for or issued.

Also in 1910 Bill Harley was married to a Milwaukee girl named
Anna Caroline
Jachthuber. Three children were born to them: William J. (1912), Ann (1913), and
John E. (1915). For many years the family lived at 4906 West Washington Blvd. Several
grandchildren and great grandchildren of William S. Harley still live in the Milwaukee
area and some of them remain ardent motorcycle enthusiasts to this day.

As the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. thrived and grew, the Engineering
Department kept pace. These were exciting years for Bill Harley to be a motorcycle
designer. From the single cylinder, one-speed, belt-drive, rigid-fork 1905 "Model
One" original, the Harley-Davidson would grow into a heavy V-twin, three-speed,
chain-drive, kick-start machine with "Full-Floting" seatpost and comfort-producing
spring fork by the time of the world war.

Motorcycles for War

During the First World War the durability of the Harley-Davidson
motorcycle was tested on French battlefields and proved itself worthy. Even before
the U.S. entered that terrible conflict, Bill Harley had developed the "fighting
motorcycle" for use against Pancho Villa and his revolutionaries along the Mexican
border. In 1916 he designed a machine-gun sidecar outfit, gun-carrier sidecar, ammo
sidecar, and medic sidecar. Mr. Harley's war-time work led to his selection as head
of the Society of Automotive Engineers Committee on Standardized Military Motorcycles.
The war ended, however, before the full extent of this "Liberty Motorcycle"
program could be carried out. As a tribute to Harley's reputation fame, buyers of
surplus war material were said to have bid first on used Harley-Davidsons before
bidding on machines of rival makes that were still brand new in the crate.

The 1920s

During the 1920s Bill Harley and his assistants designed several
new machines. These included the smooth-running Sport Model, racing bikes and hillclimb
models, new single cylinder lightweights, and the venerable "45" inch V-twin
side-valve model. He also refined the 61 inch and 74 inch Big Twin "J"
models with continual improvements, better electrics, and styling updates.

In the light of the competition, Bill Harley's engineering stood
up very well. By 1920, Harley-Davidson could state with confidence that their Big
Twin crankpin bearing was good for more than 20,000 miles without an overhaul.

Behind the scenes Bill Harley and his assistants worked on several
other projects that never went into production. These included a four-cylinder motorcycle,
a futuristic Sport Model, a shaft-drive V-twin, an all-aluminum racing motor, industrial
engines,
and probably others that were drawn on paper with some making it to the prototype
stage but proceeded no further. Unfortunately, the market for motorcycles in the
USA wasn't strong enough to produce these more exotic creations and always conservative
and cautious Harley-Davidson stuck to its proven formula. This has led some critics
to say that Mr. Harley's work was "plodding" and "unimaginative"
although nothing could be further from the truth. The extent of his skills and creativity
is demonstrated by the 86 known patents issued in his name plus four others done
in collaboration with others. This impressive record is almost certainly unmatched
in the field of American motorcycle design and possibly worldwide.

Harley the Man

For all his great work, William S. Harley remains something of
a mystery. He was not a demonstrative man. He rarely spoke about himself or his accomplishments.
Considering his long career there are not many photos of him. Once, when told his
family may have royal ties in England, he scoffed and called it, "a bunch of
malarkey."

Each year there are fewer men still around who knew or worked with
Bill Harley. Because he stayed in his own bailiwick, most workers at Harley-Davidson didnít
come into close contact with him. His inner circle has largely passed away, but others
who met or knew him paid him the following tributes. "Bill Harley was an all
around sportsman," said the late William H. Davidson. "He was a crack rider
in the early days. Not only did he engineer [the motorcycles] but he rode them too.
He checked them out on his own. One thing I always admired about Bill Harley was
that he treated you as an equal. We were a generation apart, but he never looked
down at me as a little kid."

Arthur Davidson II recalled him this way: "Bill Harley liked
to hunt and
fish, then he became an etcher, which he was extremely good at. My cousin Bill Marx
had one of [Mr. Harley's etchings] of his father hunting at Lake Poygan. His father
used to fall asleep in the skiff. He snored so loud it was actually like calling
ducks in. One time he had ducks climbing up on his skiff and swimming around him.
Bill Harley made an etching of that which hung in my cousinís office for many years."

Henry Fuldner, who roomed at college with Bill Harleyís son, William
J., recalled another side of William S. Harley: "Young Bill [Wm. J. Harley]
got sick and hired a private room and nurse. The next day the old man showed up.
He fired the nurse and the fancy room."

Christian Spexarth, who worked in the engineering department from
the 1930s to 1972, remarked: "Bill Harley took us out of the side-valve engine
and into the overhead-valve engine. He was a great man."

Knucklehead Masterpiece

Throughout the 1920s the Harley-Davidson Big Twin held direct descent
from the original "Model One" of 1905 and the successor 1911 V-twin model.
Then in 1930 Bill Harley introduced the first full makeover of these earlier designs
with the 74 cubic inch side-valve VL model.

While an improvement over previous Big Twins, the VL didn't fully
satisfy Chief Engineer Harley. By the 1930s, the rapidly improving highway system,
higher octane gasoline, and riders' expectations were all racing ahead of what the
desperately under-oiled and over-heated VL side-valve engine could deliver. In this
scenario and within the larger drama of the Great Depression Bill Harley brought
forth the finest achievement of his career: the 1936 Model EL -- or "61 OHV"
-- more commonly known today as the Knucklehead.

Of the many motorcycle engineers America had seen by the 1930s,
Bill Harleyís experience ran the deepest and was most sustained. The engineering
department at Harley-Davidson was his world and separated from other parts of the
factory by a locked door. Even if you got through that you still had to pass under
the watchful gaze of Mr. Harley's personal secretary, Joe Geiger, who was in charge
of all drawings and records and who scrutinized anyone requesting entry into this
inner sanctum of American motorcycle design. The drafting room was connected to Mr.
Harley's office and he could observe it through a large plate glass window. His office
-- filled with experimental parts and drawings -- was likened to "a motherís
bedroom overlooking the nursery of her children." This was where Mr. Harley
felt most content and at home in the plant. This is where he communicated with his
team of engineers and draftsmen and where he appointed tasks, suggested changes,
approved work, and put his own hand to the drawing board. During the Knucklehead's
developmental stage Bill Harley was also a frequent visitor to the experimental department
where he consulted with foreman Ed Kieckbusch and observed this masterpiece of design
come into being with more attention and care lavished upon it than any other motorcycle
in the history of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co.

On the 1936 EL model or 61 OHV Bill Harley invested the cumulative
experience of a lifetime in an outstanding and even radical design. Not that he didn't
have plenty of help because by the 1930s the engineering and experimental departments
included plenty of talented guys who had grown up with the motorcycle just like Bill
Harley and the Davidsons had done. But it was Mr. Harley who called the shots on
the Knucklehead project and approved everything on it. Almost certainly it would
not have developed like it did without him.

The extent of William S. Harley's contributions to the 1936 EL
can be seen in the three patents covering the model and that were issued in his name
and assigned to the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. These include: "Instrument Mounting"
(2,091,682), "Oil Tank and Battery Assembly" (2,109,316), and recirculating
"Lubrication System" (2,111,242). These patents show the extent of Bill
Harley's creative thinking and prove that the "Sixty-One" was his baby
along with its bored and stroked 74 OHV big brother that was introduced in 1941,
just two years before his passing.

The Harley Legacy

From the Knucklehead's first unveiling in late 1935, a new era
in American motorcycling was born. This, the age of performance, is still with us.
With easy breathing overhead valves, a generous reliable lubrication system, and
a look unmatched in mechanical beauty anywhere, the American rider discovered a motorcycle
in the 61 EL Knucklehead that could go a thousand miles in a day provided the rider
did his part. In 1937, Joe Petrali's Daytona Beach speed record and Fred Ham's 24
hour endurance record both accomplished on 61 OHVs nailed down this reputation for
performance and durability for all time.

The 61 OHV was the last completely new motorcycle designed by and
under the auspices of William S. Harley and built by the original four founders of
the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. This model would be successful beyond their wildest
dreams and in a stunning parallel the 1936 Knucklehead equalled and perhaps surpassed
the importance of Bill Harley's original 1905 Model One.

As he had done once before in 1904-05, William S. Harley essentially
re-invented the American motorcycle again in 1936. This proves that lightning does
strike the same place twice. And while Bill Harley died in 1943 and with his passing
went all his knowledge,
skill, and experience, his influence lives on, witnessed by the fact that his 1936
EL/1941 FL model never went out of production but only updated with mechanical and
cosmetic changes since that time. Key elements of the original Knucklehead still
serve as essential design, styling, and engineering cues for all of the air-cooled
Big Twin Harley-Davidson motorcycles produced since that time. The subsequent Panhead
(1948-65), Shovelhead (1966-83), Evolution (1984-1998), and Twin Cam (1999-present)
big twin engines are essentially the same powerplant that Bill Harley introduced
in 1936 and that contines to carry the torch for Harley-Davidson to the present day.

This is William Sylvester Harley's greatest legacy. That his direct
influence still beats in the heart of every air-cooled big twin Harley-Davidson on
the road today. The mystique and spirit of Mr. Harley lives on as an intangible ghost
in the machine and his Promethean presence looms large and continues to influence
motorcycle design today.